Life, as they say, is all about perspective. While the South African cricket team (Proteas) being 2-0 down to the West Indies in the ongoing T20 series is indeed concerning, it should be noted that this is an ultimately meaningless series. When I first saw it on the calendar, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity just before the T20 World Cup for the team to acclimatise to conditions, but Proteas coach Rob Walter opted instead to select an experimental team, filled with players who starred in the CSA T20 Challenge, but didn’t play in the Indian Premier League. He then peppered the side with a few IPL players who hadn’t had much game time, like Quinton de Kock.
If I were being picky, I would say that I had hoped the makeshift Proteas side would at least have some players who don’t normally get a chance to play for the team put their hands up. The current Protea middle order is, of course, incredibly explosive, but who knows how many more T20 World Cups David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen have in them. In the same vein, Quinton de Kock seems to have one foot out the door when it comes to representing the Proteas, so it would have been nice to see some players put their hands up as potential replacements. Alas, it has not occurred, as Matthew Breetzke and Ryan Rickelton, the two players who likely have the inside lane on any opportunities that might pop up in the national middle order, have flattered to deceive. Wiaan Mulder, who first burst onto the scene in domestic cricket as a precocious 18-year-old, seems currently to be stuck in the same purgatory Mark Ramprakash was for England, where he is an outstanding domestic cricketer, but maybe not quite the goods as an international cricketer. Nqaba Peter, the 21-year-old leg-spinner, showed good control and discipline en route to an impressive 2-32 on debut. He seems to be a modern leg spinner with speed and bounce having replaced flight and guile in the modern leggie’s armoury. I could go on, but the point is, while it would have been nice for some of the next in line to step up, ultimately this series is an academic one, nothing more than CSA ticking a box to fulfil their tour obligations.
Where things have been disappointing, though, is the performance of fast bowlers who, ostensibly, will be tasked with helping win a World Cup for South Africa. Gerald Coetzee and Anrich Nortje represent two high-quality pace options, but with both on the mend from injury, Nortje’s being an extended injury spell which kept him out of action from September to March, there is more of a microscope on both men. They both ended the IPL on the bench, watching proceedings. I would not be doing my job if I didn’t point out that the IPL has a four-foreigner rule, which does mean that foreign players have a shorter leash, but both men would probably have merited being dropped even if they weren’t under selection pressure. Coetzee’s overall figures don’t look too bad; 13 wickets in 10 matches at an economy rate of 10.17, but he only took one wicket in his last three matches at an average of 78 and an economy of 11 runs to the over. Nortje, in comparison, never quite settled into the IPL this year. Having been out for six months, and then missing the mini pre-season to attend the birth of his daughter, he showed his rustiness, averaging 42 in his six games with a scarcely believable economy rate of 13.36. Where Coetzee looked reasonably capable in his sole hit out so far, taking 1/30 in his four overs on Thursday, Nortje seemed to continue where he left off in the IPL, going wicketless in his four overs at a cost of 47 runs. Before Kagiso Rabada was released by the Delhi Capitals in the last super auction, in 2021, he and Anrich Nortje were the most potent new ball pairing in the IPL. They never quite showed the same level of penetration for the Proteas, but even so, the Rabada-Nortje pairing is probably the most likely path to victory for South Africa to win the T20 World Cup. It should be noted that while T20 is most certainly a batsman’s game, the man of the match for the last final was Sam Curran, for his bowling efforts, and the 2021 final is the only final ever, where a team had to chase a score in excess of 170. In other words, bowlers still win tournaments. South Africa misfiring in a meaningless series against the West Indies is hardly going to change anything for anyone. But if Nortje can’t fix his radar, and soon, I suspect there will be some more dark times ahead.
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